BJP takes dig at Nitish for Congress preferring Lalu over him

Patna: Amidst reports of Congress' confabulations with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for a secular alliance in Bihar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday took a dig at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for Congress preferring Lalu Prasad over him and said that such an 'opportunistic' alliance is not a cause of worry for it.

"Now Congress has kicked on their (JD-U) back and is aligning with Lalu. History will not forgive Nitish Kumar for betraying mandate and breaking (ties) with BJP," BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi wrote on micro-blogging website Twitter.

"For the last 6 months Nitish Kumar was courting Cong, even going to Cong HQ to see off FM (P Chidambaram), praising Shahzada, taking certificate of secularism from PM," he said taking a dig at Kumar.

Though official confirmation is awaited, there have been reports of confabulations between Congress and RJD to firm up ties for the 2014 parliamentary elections.

The process is all set to get momentum as soon as RJD president Lalu Prasad comes out of AIIMS, Delhi, where he is undergoing treatment.

After the separation between BJP and JD-U in mid-June, Congress was seen reaching out to Nitish Kumar. The Congress’ vote to Nitish Kumar government and UPA government's encouraging response to the demand for special category status for the state initially pointed to their warmth.

But Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's telephone to Lalu Prasad after he came out of Ranchi jail in a fodder scam case on bail, indicated towards efforts to forge a tie-up.

Asserting that BJP is 'unimpressed' with the likely alliance between Congress-RJD-LJP, senior party leader and Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said that there will be direct fight between Congress and BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

"Congress has lost the people's support as it is neck deep in corruption, while BJP has a clear cut advantage."

"Both JD-U, which is enjoying Congress vote in the assembly and RJD, which is forging an alliance with that party (Congress) will have to pay dearly for their relation with it," he said.

Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said that Congress seemed interested in repeating its action in Uttar Pradesh, where it has support of both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, in Bihar.

"But Bihar is not Uttar Pradesh and its people have seen the true face of Congress," he added.

Meanwhile, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari could not come here to interact with party workers due to inclement weather.

Due to low visibility, the ATC did not give permission to Gadkari to land at the Patna Airport and hence he had to cancel the programme, BJP vice-president Sanjay Mayukh said.

Gadkari was scheduled to address BJP office bearers and workers on coming elections and was to attend a function at Hajipur in Vaishali district.